I really do not propose others to follow my example, and I sincerely have great esteem for Reverend Ventrue who gives us a valuable service without any fee.
But, only to share my opinion with you I think that at least for now I will not send a snail mail to the Administration to regain my Members only sessions access. I was considering this when tonight, at 2:14 came into this:
http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/BBwhy.htmlwhich reinforced my intention.
What is written there in my case is true. From the chat I had very much but this experience starts to absorb my energy (My printer exits from the power save mode right now?) too much. It starts to be a substitute of the real contacts with other Satanists that I really hope that the CoS will soon foster when the process of revision of the Grottos will come to an end. I prefer to see people face to face, not to speak with people I probably will never meet even if they are true Satanists.
I think that my logging in here will be rarer.

I agree with you in some ways. While I do enjoy face ot face interaction with a selected few. This forum has always been a great site for useful and enlighting information. There are topics discussed here that I rarely get to discuss with those I have personal relationships with. My intelligent friends are always way to busy with their lives to have such insightful conversation I have here. I enjoy this forum and those who participate in it. I have read some very good essays and threads here that have made me think more in depth.

Sometimes I think to myself I log on too much and should decrease my visits. One thing for certain is if I need to do something important I turn this machine off. I have found that am still able to find the time to draw, read, make music, go people watching, work out, and still come here. I have found a nice medium.

I enjoy this site. When I log onto the net it is to do either of two things. One, check my e-mail. Two, come here and see what has been cooking.

When first I discovered the online world of Satanism, it went without saying that I ,assuredly, did not presume these new facets of Dr. LaVey's work to be what became of the only religion that ever described, in detail, the person that I was and am.
It originally lent itself quite readily to many forms of my own online mischief. I have since decidely been shown, that,yes, there are many clowns in this three-ring circus, but, every so often, I do catch a glimpse of that rare breath-taking 'act'. There are many extremely intelligent, well-read, no-nonsense individualists that choose to partipate and represent the only valid organization that has ever presented the religion of Satanism in it's true light. That alone keeps me coming back. And I offer them my deepest respects for putting up with all that they have chosen to endure. May that vigilance always exist.
I've never forgotten my first. The first time I picked up TSB and came alive with the realization of finally finding a name for what I was. I can only speak for myself when I say that the Black flame of Satan and Satanism that burn within me will never be extinguished by something as foolish and as petty as a few 'flames' or insults blown 'up my skirt'. I'm not that easy.
Anyone with eyes and the ability to discern truth from fiction will see that Satanism is alive and well and that there are many bright, successful, creators working hard to ensure that the muck is cyclically hosed out and down the drains from whence they come.

"I am a Satanist!Bow down for I am the highest embodiment of life!"--- Anton Szandor LaVey
Shemhamforash!
Hail Satan!

While this is more than a chat room, and much can be gained through this resource...

...it is no substitute for fresh air. It's important to stand up, stretch, and venture out into the world beyond the one in which your computer sits.

I've found that conversations with other Satanists online can enhance one's "real world" experiences. Likewise, experience in the "real world" is essential to any kind of intelligent discussion online. If you never leave your computer...what do you really have to add here? This isn't a place to hide from the "real world", it's a place to discuss it. "Real world" references make any discussion more interesting.

I do think that many of us will move through periods of involvement with the boards that reflect changes in our own lives. This flux is a good thing, I think. It keeps things fresh.

So enjoy the real world, take time away, and stop by and say hello every so often. Take from it what you value, and leave the rest to others.

The board itself is neutral, it is up to each of us to make sure we are truly enjoying it as the indulgence it is and not letting ourselves fall into a pattern of compulsion.

Trouble occurs when folks get too wrapped up and lose perspective...I've occasionally been foolish in this way myself. Live and learn.

I don't chat. I occasionally IM people that are close to me but live long distances away, though that is hardly the same as mindlessly chatting with random people I've never met.

However, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The internet can be a valuable tool to enhance one's "real" life. Hell, I met my fiancee' online. I lost my virginity to a girl I met online. My last 3 roommates (which have been located in different states, mind you), I've all met online. And there are people that I've yet to meet in person that I have online communication with that I will meet one day.

That's one thing I've always liked about the Internet: if a person is being honest (and it's hard to tell sometimes, but just assuming they are. I've been lucky and come across a lot who have been), you get to know that person from the inside out. It's an inversion of the usual method of socializing. Normally, you see a person, you formulate initial opinions about that person, you work your way through that person's fronts and, maybe, eventually get to know what they're about.

The Internet is what you make of it. You can either randomly chat with anonymous people or you can communicate with people with a purpose in mind, cutting away all the extraneous bullshit. And you can take it as far as you want to....even to the point of traveling wherever that person is and meeting in person. Which I've done to mostly good results.

Now, as for this particular site, as others have said, I don't see it as being similar to chatting at all, really. I rather liken this site to a book.......a rapidly changing, fluid book with no end. This book has many very good authors who all contribute to it regularly, on so many different subjects, it's impossible to keep track of them all. It's a very well balanced book, too, due to the many authors, for when one comes up short on something, there's always someone there who makes up for it........usually to an extreme degree.

I've learned so much from just reading posts on this site, it really is astounding. Not to mention the inspiration that comes to learn when I come across something I don't know about. For instance, it's Bill_M that has inspired me to study math, if for no other reason than to understand what the hell he's talking about sometimes. Normally I hate math.......well, maybe not hate, but am terrible at it. And were it not for that stroke of inspiration, I probably would have stayed like that.

So, the ending thought of this post that turned out much longer than I intended: if you find it useful, then use it! Whether that be the Internet, your car, or an umbrella in the rain. It's when you start using your umbrella when it's bright and sunny out that something's wrong

Your reply was useful to me, as you describe your experience with internet chats.I know that abroad internet is more reliable than in Italy. Here there are too many disturbers.We have also hypernet, a network which links many Pubs in the neighborhood and the strange thing is that people approach it differently, so you can meet people in person in a reasonable time. For reasonable time I mean a day or two, I really do not like to chat with a person for months before meeting him/her, a situation that here is quite the rule, at the end in Italy it seems easier to meet a foreigner than an Italian. The reason because I did not use hypernet was because for work I was at the computer all day, and I did not want to spend my evenings again at the Pub with the computer.Anyway my post is not a critic to this beautiful Board in which I learned a lot and got in touch virtually with many clever Satanists. It is that it starts to be counterproductive. My idea of the internet chat is that of a way of dating people, or of a site with information for contacts face to face. Internet is a precious mean but I really do not like “to speak” with the keyboard.I am preparing a little site to contact other Satanists near me and to put my efforts in organizing rituals in the real world, with comrades who share the same philosophy. To be involved in the Member only sessions of LttD is perhaps too much, as I have other activities toward goals in the real life and also the public forums are very interesting. For now they are enough for me.

I've not visited the chatroom mentioned here, though I may. My advice on this may prove to be applicably useful to only some. I am very skeptical that many meet a person who even resembles the one they believe they "know" through a forum, chatroom or writing letters. I have met, lived communally with or took as a mate some of those encountered via this means. The man behind the curtain usually turns out to be not the great and terrible Wizard of Oz, but merely the odd old medicine peddler who has sold this vision of himself, not always as a purposeful deception to you, but believes the delusion himself. Some of them turned out to be: bi-polar, spoiled children, convicts, wannabees, introverts you couldn't even have a satisfying conversation with or having repulsive or other offensive behavior and habits anyone else would find intolerable. I don't want to make it sound like I have tried this a lot because I dispise repeating failures and using methods that just don't work. I tried to be more discerning and clever in my judgements, but even these & intuition too failed me. You just can't know really know someone through this means. I recommend face-to-face every time. It doesn't make any difference if you are just playing around and never intend to have anything more than a fun time with people you meet "in a glass darkly". The sex is safe and there are no responsibilities to consider. More often than not, you become really good "friends" or so you think or do something else like fall in love, if you don't mind paying the price later of a big letdown and having your emotions run over by a truck. I've got to admit that crashing and burning can be character building. If you don't mind a surprise ending you will then be required to live through, go for it, but don't say I didn't warn you. Think of it as buying a Rolex Watch or a "like new" lap top that is sold as-is on Ebay. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. heh

First, I would just like to add to those who have already said it, my agreement that: a forum is different from a chat-room in that should you care to take it, there is plenty of time to think about the answers you write. It annoys me that all too many people seem to treat forums as chat-rooms and I find that more irritating than any number of silly topics people might post.

As for meeting other Satanists - well... should that day ever come I guess it'll be an experience. Until then though I tend to follow the idea that "real world achievement" is the most important thing. To be able to interact and converse with the many types of people it takes to make a world and with whom any occupation demands of us to be able to communicate effectively with.

I do intend to re-apply for access to the member's forums. My memebership status means more to me than just access to a private net forum however and I'm happy enough to wait until the initial rush dies down.

Quote: I do intend to re-apply for access to the member's forums. My membership status means more to me than just access to a private net forum however and I'm happy enough to wait until the initial rush dies down.

Exactly the same reasoning I have.

For me real life will always take precedent over a forum no matter how well that forum is being run. It is easy to spot why some posters are more respected than others. They demonstrate their Satanic beings not just by their words, which could be empty rhetoric, but by their actions.

_________________________
Support bacteria it's the only culture some people have.

Ok, I share many of your points.
Certainly your neighbors may not be your ideal friends and you would like different people, and it can happen that you would like a company different from what you have, and for example that of rich people while you are poor, or to have an actress as a girlfriend instead of a clerk women.
Besides, sharing the same religion not at all guaranties that you like another person, even in the case of a so strong and character oriented religion like the Satanism.
In internet you can contact a lot of people whose acquaintance you perhaps enjoy more than your usual friends, due to the large number of people, but I feel that the internet contacts are always a bit artificial, just a virtual reality.
I do not want to sacrifice the real interactions, a bit imposed by the logistical circumstances, to foster too much the virtual world. If you need to speak with a person in New York you can do it in internet but this is a need that you have in that moment. An internet based interaction I feel that widens the number of contacts but restricts the intensity of the emotional engagement.

So, for now, I will stay in the public forums and I will focus my efforts and dedicate time on opening stimulating contacts with the Satanists near me.